He was the victim of an unprovoked knife attack in Gloucester 19 years ago in which his attacker slashed his neck - missing his jugular vein by 1mm.

The attacker had swung a knife at a friend of his during the attack on the corner of Seymour Road and Cecil Road and then chased Bret when he tried to escape.

By the time he was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital he had lost a lot of blood. After inserting 23 staples in his neck, doctors told him if the knife had swung as little a 1mm towards his jugular, he would not have survived.

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He was already a drug user before the attack, but the trauma he suffered was among the main reasons he picked up a heroin addiction which would last for four-and-a-half years.

At the height of his addiction he was sent to jail for eight months after shoplifting to feed his addiction

After going through a rehabilitation programme, Bret has now been clean for 14-and-a-half years and now works as a groundsman.

But despite getting that side of his life back on track, thought of the attack still lingers in Bret's mind to this day and he is calling for more support for services such as youth charity Increase the Peace and its founder Delroy Ellis.